And guilt, that should a graceful bosom strike, Drown'd in the fet lake of a hopeless cheek.
Chapman's First Part of Byron's Confpiracy. Thus muft we do, who are enthrali'd to kings; Whether they will, juft or unlawful things.
For they who fpeak but privately to kings, Do feldom fpeak the beft and fitteft things.
But this is ftill the fate of thofe that are By nature or their fortunes eminent ; Who either carry'd in conceit too far,
Do work their own or others difcontent, Or elfe are deemed fit to be suppress'd: Not for they are, but that they may be ill. Since ftates have ever had far more unrest
By fp'rits of worth, than men of meaner skill; And find, that those do always better prove, Wh'are equal to employment, not above. For felf-opinion would be feen more wife, Than prefent councils, cuftoms, orders, laws: And to the end to have them otherwise,
The commonwealth into combustion draws, As if ordain'd t' embroil the world with wit, As well as groffness, to dishonour it.
See how thefe great men cloath their private hate In thofe fair colours of the publick good! And to effect their ends, pretend the state; As if the flate by their affections stood: And arm'd with pow'r and princes jealousies, Will put the leaft conceit of difcontent
Into the greatest rank of treacheries;
That no one action fhall feem innocent: Yea, valour, honour, bounty fhall be made As acceffaries unto ends unjuft : And e'en the fervice of the ftate must lade The needful'st undertakings with distrust.
Who fees not, that fees aught, woe worth the while, The easy way, that greatnefs hath to fall! Environ'd with deceit, hemm'd in with guile;
Sooth'd up in flatt'ry, fawned on of all; Within his own, living as in exile ;
Hears but with others ears, or not at all; And ev'n is made a prey unto a few, Who lock up grace, that would to other fhew.
And who, as let in leafe, do farm the crown, And 'joy the ufe of majefty and might; Whilft we hold but the fhadow of our own,
Pleas'd with vain fhews, and dally'd with delight: They, as huge unproportion'd mountains grown, Between our land and us, fhadowing our light, Bereave the rest of joy, and us of love; And keep down all, to keep themselves above. Which wounds, with grief, poor unrefpected zeal, When grace holds no proportion in the parts; When diftribution in the common-weal
Of charge and honour, due to great deferts, Is ftopt; when others greedy hands must deal The benefit that majefty imparts;
What good we meant, comes gleaned home but light; Whilft we are robb'd of praife, they of their right.
Nor is it fo much princes weakneffes, As the corruption of their minifters, Whereby the commonwealth receives diftrefs? For they attending their particulars, Make imperfections their advantages,
To be themfelves both kings and counsellors: And fure this commonwealth can never take Hurt by weak kings, but fuch as we do make.
And it is juft, that they who make a prey Of princes favours, in the end again Be made a prey to princes; and repay The fpoils of mifery with greater gain:
Whofe facrifices ever do allay
The wrath of men conceiv'd in their disdain :: For that their hatred perfecuteth ftill More than ill princes, thofe that make them ill. Daniel's Panegyrick to the King.
But on the stage of state when one must fland A publick actor plac'd in all mens fight; And fwaying pow'r with an imperious hand Doth hold the balance both of wrong and right: Then, he for ev'ry action that is his,
The cenfure of a thousand tongues must have; Not only damn'd for doing things amifs,
But for not doing all, that all men crave.
E. of Sterline's Alexandrean Tragedy. But where the better rules the greater part, And reafon only is the prince's art;
There as in margents of great volum❜d books, The little notes, whereon the reader looks, Oft aid his over-preffed memory
Unto the author's sense, where he would be: So do true counsellours affift good kings, And help their greatness on, with little things.
Lord Brooke's Mustapha..
For they muft flatter good and evil too, That under princes all alone will do.
Why thus should statesmen do, That cleave thro' knots of craggy policies, Ufe men like wedges, one ftrike out another; Till by degrees, the tough and knurly trunk Be riv'd in funder?
Marfion's Second Part of Antonio and Mellida. What if I got him!
He's but a fhallow old fellow; and to build On the greatest, wifeft ftatefman, in a defign Of this high daring, is most dangerous:
We fee the tops of tall trees, not their heart; To find that found or rotten, there's the art.
Dekker's Match me in London.
Then daily begg'd I great monopolies, Taking the lands belonging to the crown; Tranfporting all the best commodities Ufeful to England, needed of her own: And bafely fold all offices, till then The due reward of well deferving men.
And being inconfiderately proud,
Held all things vile that fuited not my vein; Nothing might pafs, but that which I allow'd, A great opinion to my wit to gain : Giving vile terms and nick names of difgrace, To men of great birth, and of greater place.
Drayton's Pierce Gaveston.
Our honeft actions, and the light that breaks Like morning from our fervice, chafte and blushing, Is that that pulls a prince back; then he fees, And not till then, truly repents his errors, When fubjects cryftal fouls are glaffes to him.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian.
now perceive the great thieves eat the lefs, And the huge leviathans of villany
Sup up the merits, nay the men and all
That do them fervice, and fpout them out again Into the air, as thin and unregarded
As drops of water that are loft i'th' ocean.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Falfe One.
An honest statesman to a prince,
Is like a cedar planted by a spring;
The fpring baths the tree's root, the grateful tree
Rewards it with the fhadow.
Webster's Dutchess of Malfy.
The tricks of flate-moles that work under princes,
Are at the best, but like the viper's young;
That howfoe'er prodigious and hurtful To many open and fecure paffengers;
Yet do they never live, without the death Of him, that first gave motion to their breath.
A ftate villain must be like the wind, That flies unfeen; yet lifts an ocean Into a mountain's height, that on the fands Whole navys may be split in their defcent.
-We, like inferior lights
Take life from your reflection; for like ftars Unto the fun, are counsellors to kings: He feeds their orbs with fire, and their fhine Contend to make his glory more divine.
Day's Humour out of Breath.
Hard things are compafs'd oft by easy means;
And judgment, being a gift deriv'd from heav'n, Though fometimes lodg'd i'th' hearts of worldly men That ne'er confider from whom they receive it, Forfakes fuch as abuse the giver of it:
Which is the reafon, that the politick,
And cunning ftatefman, that believes he fathoms The councils of all kingdoms on the earth,
Is by fimplicity over-reach'd.
Meffinger's new Way to pay old Debts.
This bile of fate wears purple tiffue,
Is high fed, proud, fo is his lordship's horfe; And bears as rich caparifons. I know, This elephant carries on his back not only Tow'rs, caitles, but the pond'rous republick;
And never ftoops for't: with his ftrong breath'd trunk Snuffs others titles, lordfhips, offices,
Wealth, bribes, and lives, under his rav'nous jaws.
Mafinger and Field's Fatal Dowry.
You have not as good patriots fhou'd do, study'd The publick good, but your particular ends; Factious among yourfelves; preferring fuch To offices and honours, as ne'er read The elements of faving policy;
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